forgetmenots, I felt the same way, but I wonder if it is has something to do with the fact that they're reading cue cards and/or memorising a script. If you're reading cue cards (or a teleprompter), it's hard to know what words to put emphasis on unless you're fast enough to read ahead as you're speaking, and I imagine that can be harder to do with a second language. Whereas May J's answers to the questions sounded more natural, because they weren't scripted (or as scripted).

Amped wrote:Today Ogata Haruna and Nonaka Miki had a taping for J-MELO. They visit a local junior high school's choir, who won a gold medal at the NHK National Music Competition. Ogata and Nonaka were allowed to practice their vocals with the choir and learn from their teachers. Together with the choir, they sang "Present" by Sekai no Owari.http://ameblo.jp/mm-12ki/entry-12094091687.html

Amped wrote:Congrats Reina for being nominated top 10 at #8. She needed more votes from the community.

I'm pretty sure the numbers in the listing were just numbers, not rankings; the winners were #3 or something. I think the winners were determined by the judges' decision, not by fan votes. Was there any fan poll for this contest? I don't recall ever seeing one. Or by "the community" did you mean "the community of Morning Musume｡ members with Haru in their name"?

"Experience in the acquisition of European languages can help you to learn Japanese about as much as it could help you to acquire the language spoken by the inhabitants of Mars." — Lafcadio Hearn